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Can infant death from child abuse be prevented?
Author(s) -
Armstrong Kenneth L,
Wood David
Publication year - 1991
Publication title -
medical journal of australia
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.904
H-Index - 131
eISSN - 1326-5377
pISSN - 0025-729X
DOI - 10.5694/j.1326-5377.1991.tb93924.x
Subject(s) - accidental , medicine , neglect , sudden infant death syndrome , psychological intervention , intervention (counseling) , child abuse , pediatrics , infant mortality , cause of death , medical emergency , injury prevention , poison control , psychiatry , environmental health , population , physics , disease , pathology , acoustics
Objective: To assess the effectiveness of a child abuse surveillance and intervention program in protecting infants at risk. Design and setting: A retrospective review of all children discussed by the Suspected Child Abuse and Neglect Team of the Mater Misericordiae Children's Hospital, South Brisbane, over the five year period January 1986 to December 1990. Patients: A total of 2126 children were discussed by the team; 375 were infants (less than 12 months of age) at the time of the initial discussion. Nine infants died suddenly and these nine deaths were examined in detail. Results: All deaths were considered initially to be due to sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS), but autopsy findings in six suggested death was not accidental and in the other three significant doubt was raised by the history. Identifying risk factors for non‐accidental injury were clearly present in all cases; however, there were major problems with notification to the appropriate authorities. Even in cases where appropriate identification and notification occurred planned interventions by multiple agencies failed to prevent death of these infants. Conclusions: There is a growing awareness of child abuse as a significant cause of morbidity and mortality in developed countries, but intervention is fraught with multiple difficulties and prevention programs are few. Recommendations are offered for improvement in recognition and notification of incipient child abuse as well as appropriate interventions to prevent infant deaths. Inappropriate death recording procedures may result in some sudden deaths being recorded as SIDS when in fact they are caused by child abuse.